THE H.B. TRIBUNE. FRIDAY, JULY 21, 1916. THE SECRET ENEMY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 187, 21 July 1916, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. FRIDAY, JULY 21, 1916. THE SECRET ENEMY

The subject is not a savoury one, but none the less, or perhaps all the more, it is one which requires the light of day let in upon it, if the deadly ravages of the fell maladies which fall within the phrase “venereal diseases” are to be effectively checks ed. It is one of the most patent defects in the British character that we are prone to an almost unconscious concealment of our more serious national troubles, and are much inclined to shut our eyes and try to think they do not exist. There is also among us a very strong spirit of false modesty, of a kind of innate prudery, that prevents us from the open discussion of the noisome sores that pervade our national body and of the means for healing or excising them. But one effect of this great war has been to teach us that only by discovering and uncovering our enemies, by arousing the nation. to their power for evil, and by fighting them vigorously and effectively in the open and in the sight of all men, are we likely to overcome them. Despite the urgent warnings of men with the keener and longer vision, we permitted the German canker to enter our body politic and gradually fix its claws in our social and commercial system, until it had got such a hold that only the grave surgical operation of war could give us relief. It is no new thing for* our physicians and sociologists to point us to an enemy in our midst which is just, as insidious and loathsome as the German menace from which we are striving to free ourselves. .But, so far, like the prophets who tried to arouse ns from our lethargic sleep of indifference to the German designs, that have since been made so .manifest, their exhortations have failed to impress the nation with the urgent need to combat this equally deadly foe. The war, however, has created a national atmosphere that is much more favourable to the consideration of evils threatening the national life, and our leaders of thought and action have eagerly seized upon the opportunity to renew their supplications for the exposure and eradication of these deadly diseases. Only by publicity can any such end be attained, and the aid of the press has been earnestly implored to assist in this way. No apology need therefore be made for introducing into our columns a subject of which a false delicacy might suggest exclusion.

Luckily for the prospect of success in their propaganda these earnest reformers have a sound and . solid basis upon which to found .their appeal to the people to help in freeing themselves from this great curse. After long and earnest protest to an Imperial Government steeped in the brew of party politics, they succeeded in securing the institution of a Royal Commission to carry out an investigation of these diseases and of their effects upon the national life. That this investigation has been thorough may be gathered from the fact that it extended over a period of close on two years, during which the Commissioners held some eightyfive meetings. That it was urgently needed is only too well proved by the perusal of a summary of their report. The revelations there made are such as to convince that the matter of fighting the diseases is no longer a question for consideration by the individual, but one which claims the attention and co-operation of the whole people no less than cancer or consumption—but- rather more on account of the assuredly communicable and transmissble character of the trouble. The subject is a wide one, but space will admit just now of drawing attention to but one phase of it—the effect of’ the more virulent form of disease upon infant life, and for this purpose we would refer to an article in the “Nineteenth Century” by Dr- Mary Scharlieb, one of the most earnest coadjutors of the great eugenist, Dr. Saleeby.

After detailing many of the other and better-known causes of infantile mortality, this authority goes on tx> say that careful attention must be paid to the heavy toll levied upon the unborn, as well as on the independent, infant by the racial poison known as syphilis. She then goes on to tell us of the steps which led up to the isolation and identification of what we may, perhaps without technical precision, call the germ of the disease, and of the discovery—by German investigators by the way —of an effective cure. How these discoveries affect the question of infant mortality she goes on to explain. Scientific examination of the dead bodies of prematurely born children, of still-born infants, and of the unfortunate babies who die soon after birth, has proved that in a very large percentage of cases the germ—with whose ugly scientific name the reader need not here be troubled — is present in large numbers. It has also been found in the blood of mothers who, apparently healthy themselves, have suffered repeated miscarriages or still-births. The chain of evidence is completed by the fact that the woman who has been the subject of a series of premature births has, after proper and systematic treatment, been enabled to retain her child to complete development. The children born after the mother has been so treated have proved to be healthy and have not, as in other cases, succumbed during the first year of life to malnutrition, ‘water on the brain,’ marasmus, or convulsions. It is thus evident that a large number of childbearing women who show no evident sign of disease are infected and infested with the germ; that they transmit this organism to the products of conception; that the embryos of children so infected frequently perish ; and that when they survive t-o full development they bear in their bodies the fatal microorganism, which so poisons them that they are unable to maintain an independent existence. Even when born apparently healthy these poor involuntary atoms of humanity furnish a very heavy proportion of those who die during the first few days, weeks, or months, after birth. Concluding this section of her subject. Dr. Scharlieb says: “The responsibility for the excessive amount of infant mortality must be distributed among a number of causes, but probably the most frequent cause, and certainly the one most within our own power both to avoid and to cure, is syphilis ” The one gratifying point about this subject is the assurance

of an effective remedy, and this being the case, it is the manifest duty of all Governments to see that the people are fully instructed as to the symptoms and indications which denote the presence of the disease, and to provide facilities for its treatment. It is to the credit of our own Government that it is now introducing legislative measures which it is hoped will lead to the accomplishment of these much tn be desired ends.

Sir Douglas Haig’s report to-day, as transmited to us by the cable, would almost indicate that the Germans have either retained or regained some footing in Longueval village and Belville (or should it be Delville?) Wood. In any event, very severe fighting is still proceeding in their immediate neighbourhood, and it is evident that the enemy is very loth to abandon the position. However, although apparently held up for the time being at this particular point, the British have made progress elsewhere. It is a notable fact that Sir Douglas Haig has no hesitation in pressing entirely local advances, being confident that his superiority in the numbers of his reserves will enable him to protect the wings of the small salients thus created, while the eneitay is further embarrassed by having to. find further troops to man his lines thus materially extended in length. Probably nothing would please the British Commanaer-in-Cnief better than to be able to establish a complete series of such indentations, knowing that in the end the enemy must straighten out along the furthermost points of penetration. General Focn is now able to move in sympathy with the British, and has secured some further advance of the whole French sector north of the Somme. He has also made a little progress on the south of the river, which will be of definite advantage when the time comes for the assault on Peronne. The German losses upon the British front, as disclosed by communications found upon responsible officers taken prisoner, attest the desperation with which the enemy is fighting, and although we may be comforted bv the thought that he has not been able to inflict commensurate losses upon our own side, still the tally of our casualties must necessarily be long. The reports from Champagne indicate a growing weight in the pressure which the French are exercising in that area, and it may be that the frequent excursions against the enemy trenches betoken a bigger movement in contemplation. In any event, they keep his reserves chained to the vicinity by fear of some such undertaking being matured. From Verdun the despatches are such that we are justified in at least surmising thatrthe vigour of the German offensive there is decidedly on the wane, and that aggressive operations are being continued simply because they dare not be abandoned. Even as it is. the French seem to be regaining some small portions of their past losses of ground. The assault is to-day five months old, and the assailants must be feeling very stale and war-worn, and hopeless of success.

Despite the Austrian boast that no Russian soldiers would reach Hungary excepting as prisoners, we have now reliable word that the Cossacks have penetrated well behind the Carpathians and are threatening the supply communications upon which General Pflanzer’s much beset army in the Bukowina, and, ineed, probably a large section of the Galician Army also, have to depend. The much battered Austrians are, however, being favoured by fate in the way of heavy rains.and flooded rivers which are impeding the Russian pursuit. There is, at the time of writing, no further definite news from any of the other active sections of the Russian lines, but details of the long conflict which ended in the AustroGermans being driven over the Lipa river show that the enemy has here also suffered terribly in hitman losses he can now ill afford. The Petrograd despatches with regard to the Asiatic fighting are generally satisfactory’. and may be accepted unhesitatingly, notwithstanding the somewhat conflicting announcements 1 issued by Constantinople. So far no: news has come through to-day from r either of the Italian fronts. (